Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time when being a monarch was still very much a man’s role. England’s previous female rulers didn’t have a particularly good track record: the reign of Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary, had been clouded by religious persecution and violence, while Lady Jane Grey (the named successor of Edward VI) had ended up losing her head after just nine days. Back in the 12th century, Empress Matilda had even waged a civil war to stake her claim to the throne, as her gender meant many people didn’t think she was a suitable candidate. With this in mind, the English people can’t have been terribly optimistic about Elizabeth’s chances of success.
As was common at the time, Elizabeth chose members of the nobility to sit as part of her government, with her closest advisors forming a body known as the Privy Council. e role of the Privy Council was to advise the monarch on both domestic and foreign issues, but the queen always had the final say. In fact, Elizabeth managed to boost her power by cutting the total number of councillors down from 50 to just 19, removing many members of the clergy in the process. is move, as well as her decision to accommodate former members of Mary’s Catholic government alongside her own Protestant advisors, was intended to make sure that religious matters did not dominate a airs of the state.